The Truth About US «Mediation» and the Future of the Civil War in China

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of The Truth About US «Mediation» and the Future of the Civil War in China has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:

  • The Truth About US «Mediation» and the Future of the Civil War in China, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
  • Chairman Mao Meets With American Journalist Steele and Answers Questions About the Current Situation, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 9, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an interview given by Comrade Mao Zedong to the American correspondent A.T. Steele in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China on the 29th of September, 1946. It was first published in the Jiefang Ribao (7th of October, 1946).

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#THE TRUTH ABOUT U.S. «MEDIATION» AND THE FUTURE OF THE CIVIL WAR IN CHINA

#INTERVIEW WITH THE AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT A.T. STEELE

#Mao Zedong
#29th of September, 1946

#★

QUESTION: Sir, do you consider that the US effort to mediate in the Chinese civil war has failed? If the policy of the United States continues as at present, what will it lead to?

ANSWER: I doubt very much that the policy of the US government is one of «mediation».1 Judging by the large amount of aid the United States is giving Jiang Jieshi to enable him to wage a civil war on an unprecedented scale, the policy of the US government is to use the so-called mediation as a smokescreen for strengthening Jiang Jieshi in every way and suppressing the democratic forces in China through Jiang Jieshi's policy of slaughter, so as to reduce China virtually to a US colony. The continuation of this policy will certainly awaken the firm resistance of all patriotic people throughout China.

QUESTION: How long will the Chinese civil war go on? What will be its outcome?

ANSWER: If the US government abandons its present partial policy of aiding Jiang Jieshi, withdraws its forces now stationed in China, and carries out the agreement reached at the Moscow Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Council Union, the United States, and Britain,2 the Chinese civil war is sure to end at an early date. Otherwise, it may turn into a long war. This would of course bring suffering to the Chinese people, but on the other hand, the Chinese people would certainly unite, fight for survival, and decide their own fate. Whatever the difficulties and hardships, the Chinese people will certainly fulfil their task of achieving independence, peace, and democracy. No forces of suppression, domestic or foreign, can prevent the fulfilment of this task.

QUESTION: Sir, do you consider Jiang Jieshi the «natural leader» of the Chinese people? Is the Communist Party of China going to reject Jiang Jieshi's five demands3 in all circumstances? If the Nationalist Party tries to convene a National Assembly without the participation of the Communist Party,4 what action will the Communist Party take?

ANSWER: There is no such thing in the world as a «natural leader». If Jiang Jieshi deals with the political, military, economic, and other problems of China in accordance with the truce agreement signed last January and the joint resolutions then adopted by the Political Consultative Conference, and not in accordance with the so-called «five demands» or ten demands, which are one-sided and run counter to the agreement and joint resolutions, we will still be willing to work with him. The National Assembly must be convened jointly by various political parties, in line with the resolutions adopted by the Political Consultative Conference; otherwise, we will firmly oppose it.

  1. Editor's Note: In December 1945 the U.S. government sent George C. Marshall to China as the president's special representative and used "mediation in the hostilities between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China" as a cover for strengthening the U.S. forces of aggression and the reactionary Kuomintang rule in various ways. To gain time to prepare for his civil war, Chiang Kai-shek, prompted by U.S. imperialism, pretended to accept the demand of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people to stop the civil war. In January 1946 representatives of the Kuomintang government and the Chinese Communist Party signed a truce agreement, issued a cease-fire order and formed the "Committee of Three" and the "Peiping Executive Headquarters" with the participation of U.S. representatives. During the "mediation", Marshall resorted to all kinds of ruses to help the Kuomintang forces attack the Liberated Areas, first in northeastern China and later in northern, eastern and central China; he actively trained and equipped the Kuomintang troops and supplied Chiang Kai-shek with a vast amount of arms and other war materiel. By June 1946 Chiang Kai-shek had massed 80 per cent of his regular forces (which were about two million men) at the front for attacks on the Liberated Areas; more than 540,000 of these troops were transported directly by the warships and planes of the U.S. armed forces. In July, when the disposition of his troops had been completed, Chiang Kai-shek launched a country-wide counter-revolutionary war. Subsequently, on August 10, Marshall and Leighton Stuart, U.S. ambassador to China, issued a joint statement declaring that "mediation" had failed in order to give Chiang Kai-shek a free hand to wage civil war. ↩

  2. Editor's Note: This refers to the agreement on China reached at the Moscow Conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Council Union, the United States, and Britain in December 1945. In the conference communique, the three foreign ministers «reaffirmed their adherence to the policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of China». The foreign ministers of the Council Union and the United States agreed that Soviet and US forces should be withdrawn from China at the earliest possible time. The Council Union faithfully carried out the terms of this agreement. It was only because of repeated requests from the Nationalist government that the Soviet forces postponed the date of withdrawal. On the 3rd of May, 1946, the armed forces of the Council Union completed their withdrawal from north-eastern China. But the US government broke its promise completely, refused to withdraw its troops, and stepped up its interference in China's internal affairs. ↩

  3. Editor's Note: On two occasions, in June and August 1946, Jiang Jieshi put forward his «five demands» to the Communist Party of China, declaring that only if the Communist Party accepted them would the Nationalist Party consider stopping the civil war. The five demands stipulated that the Chinese People's Liberation Army withdraw from the following places: (1) All areas south of the Longhai Railway. (2) The entire length of the Qingdao-Ji'nan Railway. (3) Zhengde and the area south of it. (4) Most of north-eastern China. (5) All areas liberated since the 7th of June, 1946, from the puppet troops in Shandong and Shanxi Provinces by the people's armed forces of the Liberated Areas. The Communist Party of China categorically rejected all these counter-revolutionary demands. ↩

  4. Editor's Note: According to the resolution of the Political Consultative Conference held in January 1946, the National Assembly was to be an assembly of democracy and unity, in which various political parties would take part, and was to be convened under the auspices of a reorganized government after the terms of the agreements reached at the Political Consultative Conference had been carried out. On the 11th of October, 1946, the Nationalist troops occupied Zhangjiakou, and this «victory» turned the heads of the Jiang Jieshi clique. On that very afternoon, it openly violated the terms of the resolution and ordered the convening of a divisive and dictatorial «National Assembly» controlled exclusively by the Nationalist Party. Officially opened in Nanjing on the 15th of November, 1946, this «National Assembly» was firmly opposed and boycotted by the Communist Party of China, the democratic political parties, and the entire people. ↩